You made walking easy

Stay In Your Lane

MAYA POV

God, life has been so good. I have a beautiful house, wife, and daughter. Carina is back at work and so am I. Thanks to my job being mostly in my office, I get to have Eve all to myself. We're quite the team. Everyday around lunch, we go for a walk before she has a nap. Fresh air is great for her and I know I get antsy if I've been sitting down too much. I actually really like walking with her, it's nice taking the time to slow down and just take in the world's beauty while introducing Eve to new things. Yes, she is only six months old but I think she takes in a lot. In the last few months, she's begun to smile, roll over, and she babbles all of the time. We have really insightful conversations as she babbles back to what I say.

Today is no different. Carina left around 7am, so she woke up Eve to breastfeed before giving her to me. I always follow Carina to Eve's room but I always stand outside. Whenever Carina has alone time with Eve, she always speaks in Italian. I know soon enough; Carina will introduce Eve to Italian and teach her. I just find it beautiful hearing Carina speak her native tongue to our daughter. Anyway, so she left quite early. I put Eve in a rocking chair next to my desk, I've been playing music around her and she seems to enjoy it. It's the playlist, I have with Carina which we put together. The one that Eve really smiles and moves to is 'Angel flying to close to the ground – Willie Nelson', you know the one that Carina and I danced to at the end of our Wedding night. Eve already has a connection to the song!

We left for our walk around 1pm, she was bottle fed just before. I sent a picture to Carina of us at the start of the walk. I think Carina likes the reassurance that we're both okay. I couldn't imagine not being around Eve all day! I took Eve to a park about 20 minutes away from our house, our walks are starting to get longer and longer as she gets older. I think she's got more patience. The walk was peaceful and at the park, we found some trees and I pointed to different things around us. I picked up a leaf for her to hold and touch, I've been educating myself and sensory things are really important for her development. We found some acorns which she hated the texture of but loved the texture of bark. I wouldn't think there was a difference but there is.

"Maya, who is this?" I hear behind me the one voice I've been avoiding... my dad. I turn to him and say "This is my daughter Eve" in a calm manner. I don't want him to blow up when Eve is around.

"Ah so you finally had a child. You look happy. How old is she?" My dad says to me. Isn't it weird that he hasn't said anything mean yet? "She's just turned six months old about 3 days ago. She's great, we're just on our daily walk." I reply to him. "Ah, she is beautiful. I remember when you were her age, you were precious. A bundle of dreams and I think you've lived through an awful lot of dreams and experiences. I have to go now; I have therapy with your mom. But I'm happy you're happy. I'd love to spend time with her one day. Maybe we could have a day out together" He says before turning and getting in his car leaving... okay now I'm dumbfounded.

I carry on walking around with Eve for another ten minutes before I start to walk back. We make our way back to the house and I lock the door. I'm just very creeped out. It's great he's in therapy but he wasn't how my dad usually is.

-

An hour later, Carina came back but I didn't know, I was in a trance, just thinking about my dad and what he'd said. I didn't notice that Carina had walked into the office and taken Eve. Why was he respectful? Maybe because the conversation was too short? Does he really want to have a relationship with my daughter? I mean, he wouldn't... well there's always a chance but I would have to be there the whole time. He'd need to do a lot of work to be a healthy person around my family. I hate that I like the idea of being closer to him and having him build a relationship with my own family. I know that Mason would think I'm crazy since he hasn't had any communication with our Dad since he was 21 years old.

I free myself from my trance and look for Eve, she isn't in the rocking chair. He's taken her right? That's the only plausible thing. What do I do? I call Carina's phone and she answers straight away. "Carina, I don't know how to tell you this. My dad has taken Eve. We saw him at the park and he was too nice. He's taken her, I know he has. Call the police" I shout down the phone. I hear running and the door opens revealing a worried Carina.

She walks up to me and finds me scratching at my wrists and rocking slightly as I stand. It's something I haven't done in years but I know that it's my fault. She walks behind me and wraps her arms tightly around my arms so I can't move, she pulls me to the ground. "Bambina, Eve is upstairs with Amelia and Kai. I invited them round to meet her. Look, I'll get Amelia to send a picture, will that help calm you down?" She questions me and I slightly nod. I continue to scratch at my wrists as I can't make sense of why she isn't panicking; I didn't take in anything she said. Her phone buzzes and she show me the screen where Eve is asleep on Kai... she's safe. She really is safe. "Bambina, she is safe. She is safe. You haven't done anything wrong, she is safe" I nod but she continues to hold me, she knows that I don't believe her. She releases her hold and I hear her texting someone. Within seconds Amelia walks into my office holding Eve, I run and take her before leaving the office and running to her room. She is safe, I have her and she's safe. I take off her clothes to check her over, just so I know for sure what's happened.

After checking, I find myself sitting in the rocking chair we've put next to the crib. It's high tech so it has different settings for comfort of the parent and child. I put it on a slight rocking mode so it rocks both Eve and I together, back, and forth.

-

"bambina, Amelia, and Kai just left. Come on, it's time for me to feed her so we can sleep." She says as she walks in. I shake my head no and continue to stare at my perfect little girl.

"Bambina, nothing is going to happen. Your dad isn't here. I've locked everything, you can check everything if you want to." She says softly in hopes that it coaxes me away from Eve long enough for her to feed her. It doesn't work.

"Okay... Bambina, I'll be back in a second. Okay?" she says again in a soft tone. I hear some shuffling and before long she comes back into the room. "Maya, I've put the portable crib right next to your side of the bed. You can watch her all night if you need to. Is that okay? Come on, let's walk around the house so you can check the locks. I won't take Eve; you can hold her" I nod and get up and head straight to the garage and start there. And surely enough, everything is locked.

We end up in our room, where I close the bedroom door. I sit on the bed still holding Eve, I can't take my eyes off of her. "Bambina can you pass her to me. I just need to feed her and then you can have her back. You can do it bambina", I listen and slowly pass her to Carina. I stroke Eve's foot while she's fed, I think she's ticklish and it's adorable. Carina feeds her for about 10 minutes and burbs her before handing her back.

I place her in the crib, strip off my clothes and lay in bed focusing on her only. Within seconds, I feel Carina's arms around me as she spoons me.

-

The next day, I call off of work and spend the day with Eve. Carina also takes the day off as she sees how affected I am. She makes sure I eat and do things independently. I'm not holding Eve as much as last night but I still need to see her. I had a shower which actually felt really good, on the other side I had Eve on the floor with Carina. I love how Carina is there for me.